My passions for creating and social justice all come together here.

April 2013

Apr 29, 2013

When you started your freelance writing blog, you probably struggled with the question of how frequently to post.

Back when I began my first blog (It was called "Confessions of a Keyword Concubine"), the prevailing wisdom was that writers should post every day, or at least every week day.

The Daily Approach--Pros and Cons

There were some pros to posting daily. First, the daily posts proved to clients that you were capable of maintaining a rigorous schedule. Second, thinking of new things to write about every day was an excellent form of self discipline. Finally, offering a fresh post daily was a great way to draw regular readers to my site. They would drop in several times a week just to see what was happening. Many of them left encouraging comments which were music to my newbie blogger's ears (well, eyes).

Daily blogging wasn't all paradise, though. There were some significant cons. It was really hard to think of something new to say every single day, and it was all too easy to start regurgitating my own posts or ideas from other websites.

Another problem was the time factor. As I started to get more paying gigs, I had less time to devote to coming up with daily blog posts. I decided it was time to try a new method.

Apr 25, 2013

A few weeks ago, I was reading a book on time management and came across a familiar piece of advice: track your time so that you know where the minutes and hours are really going.

I'd tried doing that exercise in the past with pen an paper. I usually kept at it for a couple of hours. Then the time sheet would get lost (Have I mentioned I have a cluttered desk?), or I'd switch activities and forget to record the change over. Anyway, I always gave up by noon at the latest. Sometimes closer to 10:30.

This time I decided to try something new and change my tracking tool. Instead of reaching for my pen and notepad, I did a quick Google search and found a time-tracking tool called Toggl (https://www.toggl.com).

Toggl's basic services, the only ones that really interested me, allowed me to enter a project name and track how long I worked on the project. There was no software to download. When I was ready to go, I entered the project name and clicked start. When I was finished with it, I returned to the Toggl screen, clicked stop, and entered the next project on my agenda. It was so simple, even I couldn't manage to muck it up.

People who want access to more reports and analysis can upgrade their service for $5.00 per month.

Apr 22, 2013

Okay, I admit it. I look at the freelance writing job ads on Craigslist. While many of them offer ridiculous terms or are just flat out scams, I have actually found some petty decent gigs there, too. The trick to making it worthwhile is to avid spending too much of your valuable time separating the good from the not-so-good.

I, for instance, used to spend 15 or 20 minutes poring over each ad, trying to decide whether it was a) legitimate, and b) worth my time.

I solved the problem by developing a short list of phrases that I look for in freelance writing job ads. The second I see one, I'm out of there and on to other prospects.

1. Gain exposure. This means that you get a byline and very little else. And please don't fall for this one even if you are a new writer looking for your first clips. There are better ways to get clips that will impress editors more. Look at it this way. Having your name written on the wall of the sleaziest bathroom in town is exposure, but probably not the type you're looking for.

2. Student or intern preferred. This innocuous sounding little phrase all but guarantees that you will be unpaid or grossly underpaid for your expertise. Leave these jobs to the students and interns and apply for gigs that are seeking (and are willing to pay for) professional freelance writers.

3. No experience necessary. Make no mistake about it, the people who post these freelance writing job ads want experience. They just don't want to have to pay for that experience, hence the disclaimer.

4. Write about anything you like. I've gotten some pretty sweet deals from editors over the years, but I've never had one offer to pay me for writing about anything I wanted to. These gigs usually involve income share or revenue share. You write your heart out and end up getting a few tenths of a cent for each page view. Unless one of your articles really takes off and goes viral, it's a heck of a lot of work for some pretty small rewards.

5. Must be able to write multiple articles per day. This one adds insult to injury. You'll probably only get paid a couple of bucks per article, AND you'll be so busy churning out work for this company that you won't have time to look for a better gig.

Do you look at online freelance writing job ads? If so, what are the phrases you hate to see?

Apr 18, 2013

I really enjoy blogging. In fact, I've been known to spend too much time on it when I should have been working on other projects.

Last November, though, something unusual began to happen when I sat down to work on my blog. My flow of ideas slowed to a trickle. I couldn't think of a thing to say about writing, usually my favorite topic in the entire world.

My blog started to gather dust as I missed days and then weeks of posts. My small but loyal following started to fade away. Not good.

The book is short, direct, and has you answering questions about your blog and making lists of topics from the first page on.

Michaels starts by encouraging you to develop a clear, over-arching "core" idea of what your blog is about. Just as importantly, he asks you to describe what you want to accomplish with it (entertainment, instruction, breaking news, and so forth).

Once you have your core idea in mind, Michaels takes you through the process of narrowing your core idea to a series of categories. For instance, my core idea, writing, could spawn categories like freelance writing, fiction writing, writing bloopers, writer's block, reviews of books about writing, nonfiction and...well, the list could go on forever.

You can then review each category and come up with a list of specific blog topics that fall under the umbrella of the category. If you can come up with ten categories and ten blog post ideas for each category, you'll have a hundred new posts to keep you occupied.

Apr 15, 2013

Do you remember the scene in The Shining where hapless wife Wendy Torrance sneaks into her husband, Jack's, writing room to try to get a glimpse into his troubled mind?

Jack, who is supposed to be working on the Great American Novel has typed over and over, "All work and no play make Jack a dull boy."

A couple of scenes later, our "dull boy" has taken to chopping down doors to terrorize his wife and kid.

Well, I can honestly say I've never gone after anyone with an axe or a knife, but I do become irritable and not much fun to be around if my writing days run so long that I don't have time to do the things I enjoy. These include

1. Reading. It makes me a better writer because I pick up factoids, styles, ideas, even hints of plot.

2. Embroidery. After a long day of writing, it really helps me to sit down with my embroidery in my lap. I watch TV (see Number 3) as my hands deftly take over from my mind to create a beautiful image. As anyone who has ever wrangled with an embroidery knot can tell you, it's a great way to learn patience.

3. Television. Yes, I know television is the devil and we should all throw our TVs out the window. That's what some writers will tell you. I don't agree. Television helps me with characterization. Sometimes I'll see a performer in a bit role and just know that that's exactly how my character X would look and talk. Cheating? Maybe. But definitely effective.

According to Dictionary.com, burnout is "fatigue, frustration, or apathy resulting from prolonged stress, overwork, or intense activity."

The phrase was first used in the 1970s to describe the malaise of some people in the helping professions. Since then, mental health professionals have realized that people in just about any field are subject to burnout.

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